


Lavender Walls

by atheldamn



Series: Prompts & Requests [5]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Tumblr Prompt, combeferre is bad at taking care of himself, could be romantic if you really squinted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2015-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-23 11:18:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,362
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3766168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atheldamn/pseuds/atheldamn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Filling a prompt from tumblr, also <a href="http://atheldamn.tumblr.com/post/116675091639/for-the-fluff-prompt-thing-i-would-be-very-happy">here</a></p><p>Combeferre is stressed. Jehan owns several hundred blankets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lavender Walls

A knock at the door woke Jehan from the light doze he’d been toying with, sprawled haphazardly over his sofa. He’d earned himself a day off, and chosen to spend it cleaning his apartment and catching up with laundry. Come late afternoon, he’d sat down, and spent the next hour torn between curling up and napping, or forcing himself up to finish the laundry.

He stood, his vision blurring and flickering, and stumbled towards the door. Standing on tiptoes, he peered through the peep hole, and was surprised to see Combeferre stood on his doorstep. Jehan pulled open the door and stood back to allow him in.

“Combeferre. What are you doing here?” he asked as Combeferre stepped in. As Jehan closed the door, Combeferre set down a satchel clearly full of books. Now he was inside, Jehan could see the dark circles beneath his eyes, how messy his hair was, how he hadn’t shaved in a few days - which for Combeferre was very unusual. Jehan frowned.

“I came to return this,” Combeferre said, opening his bag and pulling out a book Jehan had lent him weeks ago. It was old, something Jehan had picked up at an auction, concerning classification of plants, and he’d offered to lend it to him when he realised it was relevant to a class Combeferre was taking.

“When did you last sleep?” Jehan asked, taking the book and wrapping his arms around it. Combeferre shrugged, and Jehan raised an eyebrow.

“It was… I slept a few hours last night,” Combeferre said.

“And before that?” Jehan pressed.

“Just a few hours…” admitted Combeferre reluctantly. Jehan tutted and pointed at his feet.

“Take those off. You need to sit down and relax. I’ve just the thing.” With that, he bustled away, setting the book on a side table and heading to the kitchen.

“But I have work to do, research, my thesis is due-”

“Your thesis will be no good to anyone if you don’t sleep properly and take care of yourself.” Jehan filled the kettle and returned to take Combeferre by the hand and drag him towards the sofa. He gently pushed him to sit down, despite his protests, and knelt in front of him, his hands on Combeferre’s thighs. “You’re always taking so much care to make sure we look after ourselves, but we know you, Combeferre. You don’t look after yourself. You’re exhausted. You look like shit. And I mean that in the most loving way possible. Sit down. We’re going to watch something you don’t need to pay attention to, and you’re going to relax, and then when you’ve explicitly promised that you will go home to bed, I’ll let you go home. Savvy?” Jehan smiled, and tiredly, Combeferre smiled back.

“Do you have the first Pirates film?” Combeferre asked, and Jehan faked a look of outrage and horror.

“What sort of person do you think I am?! Of course I do. Stay,” he warned as Combeferre moved to stand. “I’ll get it. Stay there.”

He quickly retrieved the film from the pile and slid it into the laptop on the coffee table, letting it begin as he went to the kitchen. From the back of the cupboard, he pulled the green tea he always saved for special occasions such as this. He made a cup for each of them, glancing over every so often to ensure Combeferre was doing as he was told. As he brought them through, an idea struck him.

“Here, hold these a moment,” Jehan said, pressing the two mugs into Combeferre’s hands.

“Can’t I just put them on the floor?” Combeferre asked, frowning, as Jehan practically skipped to his bedroom.

“Just hold them!” he called back, throwing his pillows through to the living room and dragging his duvet and blankets out after him.

“What are you doing?”

“Blanket fort! You’re tired and stressed, and apart from these I washed all of my blankets today. They’ll smell amazing, we’ll be cosy.” Combeferre’s expression was still somewhat dubious as Jehan spread his quilt over the floor. “Come on, it’ll be fun,” he pouted, and Combeferre shook his head with a smile.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Sit on the quilt. Find somewhere good for the laptop. I’ll do the rest!” Jehan couldn’t deny, he was inordinately excited. It had been years since he made a blanket fort.

He fetched the clean blankets from the folded pile by the washing machine, and cleared the clothes from the airers, where they had been drying. They’d be fine for now, he supposed. He used the airers to hang the blankets over, and it wasn’t long before he had draped enough of them to create a completely enclosed fort. As a final touch, he fetched some fairy lights and curled them around one of the airers, making the whole fort a little lighter and far cuter than Jehan could ever have hoped.

Finally, he sat next to Combeferre, back to the sofa, and took his tea from him. He took a small sip, breathing in deeply, the light, lavender washing liquid he used surrounding him.

“See? It’s adorable,” Jehan smiled, looking sideways at Combeferre.

“Yeah, I like it. And it does smell good... Jehan, I’m sorry for being grumpy earlier. It wasn’t your fault, you did nothing to annoy me. I’m just tired and grouchy.” Combeferre looked genuinely sad about it, and Jehan lay his hand over the back of Combeferre’s where it lay on his thigh.

“It’s okay. I’ve lived with both Grantaire and Feuilly, you’re not the first sleepy friend to moan at me. Trust me, I have received far worse. You’re forgiven.” He rubbed the back of Combeferre’s hand, and turned his attention to the tea and the film.

“Thankyou. For this. You’re right, I wouldn’t have thought of this myself.”

“I know. You’d have carried on working until you passed out and slept for 20 hours.” Combeferre smiled and nodded. “Did the book help?”

“Oh yes, it was wonderful, we don’t have anything like that in the library. It was so detailed, the drawings, they were incredible. I see why we don’t, it was more an exercise in art than a scientific text, but being able to see what they were talking about, it helped immensely. Thankyou for that, as well.” Combeferre turned his hand over and squeezed Jehan’s in his own.

“You’re welcome. I don’t think I’ve anything else that would help but you’re welcome to look in the future. They’re there to be read, after all,” Jehan offered, sipping his tea and slumping back against the sofa, and against Combeferre. “Now, stop talking about work. This is a blanket fort. They are for watching films and cuddling. Finish your tea.”

Combeferre bumped his shoulder against Jehan’s. “I knew you had an ulterior motive.” Jehan just smiled innocently at him as he drained his tea and set the cup down where it wouldn’t be knocked or broken. He sat back closer to Combeferre, who put his arms around him and pulled him to his chest.

“What can I say? Cuddles are my favourite.”

“That is not what you were saying last Friday night,” Combeferre said, and Jehan could hear the raised eyebrow in his voice.

“What I say when I’m drunk and what I say when sober are two entirely different things, my friend. Right now, cuddles are my favourite.” Jehan curled his arm over Combeferre’s stomach, the other around his lower back, and leant his head against his chest. Combeferre started idly stroking his hair, and Jehan sighed happily.

“You’re a wonderfully good friend, Jehan,” Combeferre said quietly. Jehan smiled, and turned his head to press a chaste kiss to Combeferre’s wrist. He felt Combeferre reach down and kiss the top of his head.

“And you’re entirely useless without me,” Jehan reminded him.

“Absolutely. Just don’t tell anyone else my secret.”

“My lips are sealed.” Jehan took a long slow breath, and, when it seemed like Combeferre was no longer up for conversation, let himself quietly doze once again, one ear listening to the film, the other the rhythmic beating of both his own and Combeferre’s heart.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [tumblr](http://atheldamn.tumblr.com)
> 
> Kudos etc. is all much appreciated!


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